Auxiliary Verbs

Lengua Inglesa 1 (b)

AUXILIARY VERBS
//¿cuáles son?
DO
HAVE

Haber (auxiliary verb)
Tener
Tener que
Tomar
Causative “have” (no existe en español = “me he construido, cortado...)

BE
CAN
COULD

MAY
MIGHT

MUST
OUGHT TO

SHALL
SHOULD

WILL
WOULD

En cuanto a Will y Would, el significado original tenía que ver con “querer”.
Will se usa para hacer el futuro.Tambiénpuede no significar futuro, como en
construcciones del tipo: “It won’t work”→ “No quiere arrancar”.
Would se usa para hacer el condicional. También puede significar “used to”.Y tiene
otras implicaciones no condicionales, como en el ejemplo: “Why she had to go, I don’t know,
she wouldn’t say” (pasado de will)→”Por qué tuvo que irse, no lo sé, no quiso decirlo”.\\

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Lengua Inglesa 1 (b)AUXILIARY VERBS

SYNTACTIC ANALYSIS
Verbs can be divided into three major categories, according to their function within the
verb phrase. We distinguish the open class of full verbs or lexical verbs (such as leave, smoke,
drive, etc) from the closed classes of primary verbs (i.e. be, have and do) and of modal verbs
(i.e. will, might, can, etc).
Of these three classes, the full verbs can actonly as main verbs; the modal auxiliaries
can act only as auxiliary verbs and the primary verbs can act as main verbs or as auxiliary
verbs.
Although auxiliaries have different functions in the verb phrase, they have one
important syntactic function in common, that is, their ability to act as operator //=the auxiliary
we use to make a question\\ when they occur as the first verb of a finite verbphrase. (Nota:
Finite = forma del verbo personal frente a la no personal).
As such, they are used, for example, in the formation of Yes/No questions. Examples:
-Was (=operator) he asked any questions?
-Will (=operator) he be asked any questions?
Since “Be” and especially in British English, sometimes “Have” also have this function
as main verbs, i.e. they are at the same time both mainverbs and operators, the term Operator is
also used for them in sentences such as the following:
She is (=main vb) a tall girl -Is (= operator) she a tall girl?
He has (=main vb) some money -Has (=operator) he any money?
//Be is operator and at the same time auxiliary. Be is the only verb that has this
possibility, since when Have is used in this way, it is old-fashioned. Actualmente se usaría:-Does he have any money?→natural form
-Has he got any money?→informal\\
CRITERIA TO DISTINGUISH FULL VERBS FROM AUXILIARY VERBS
a) -OPERATOR IN NEGATION WITH “NOT”
To form a negative finite clause, (clause→Proposición), the first auxiliary is
placed before the negative word “not”, as in the following example:
-

She will not do it

Full verbs are distinguished from auxiliary verbs bytheir inability to form
negation in this way. Consider the following unacceptable negation:
-

She saw not the play (incorrect)

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Lengua Inglesa 1 (b)
Observations
1) Consider the following sentences:
-

He decided not to see the play
I like not working on Fridays

The negation here is associated with the second non finite verb phrases.
However, this distinction is not alwaysclear. With some verbs, it is possible
to move “not” out of the non finite clause and into the main verb phrase.
Compare the following pairs of sentences. The first pair have the same
meaning and are possible whereas the second do not:
-

She seemed not to mind  Parecía no importarle
She didn’t seem to mind No parecía importarle (same meaning)

-

He decided not to see the play Decidióno ver el partido
He didn’t decide to see the play  No decidió ver el partido (different
meaning)

2) In some cases, it is possible to negate a noun phrase with “not”.
Consider the following example:
-

She saw not the play, but the opera

“Not” goes with the noun phrase “the play”, rather than with the verb. A
similar example of the use of “not” after a full verb is the following...